alsautils

alsa-utils is a collection of user-space utilities for the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) on Linux systems. Maintained as part of the ALSA project, these tools provide interfaces to configure, control, test, and troubleshoot sound hardware and drivers. They operate in user space and interact with kernel-level ALSA components to perform playback, recording, and mixer management.

The suite includes several widely used programs. aplay plays audio data from files or streams; arecord records audio input. amixer offers command-line access to mixer controls, while alsactl can save and restore the state of sound cards and their mixers. alsamixer provides a text-based interactive interface for adjusting levels and switches.

Installation is common on Linux distributions as the alsa-utils package. Typical uses include scripting volume control with amixer, testing playback with aplay, and diagnosing hardware via arecord. Users often run alsactl store after changing settings to persist configuration across reboots. On desktops, these tools complement higher-level audio servers such as PulseAudio or PipeWire.

The tools are released under free software licenses, largely GPL-based, and are designed to be portable across Linux distributions. They form a foundational layer in the broader Linux audio stack and are widely used by system integrators, developers, and power users. See also the wider ALSA project and the Linux audio subsystem for context on how alsa-utils interacts with kernel drivers and other user-space audio frameworks.